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Hello and welcome to The Compost Bin. I'm Compostwoman and I live with my family in rural Herefordshire. We have nearly four acres of garden and woodland, all managed organically, which we share with Chickens, Cats, Guinea Pigs and assorted wildlife. We also grow a lot of our own food, run courses in all sorts of things and make a lot of compost!

I work as an environmental educator, lecturer, writer and Forest School leader at Moors Wood . I am a Master Composter and have spent the last 11 years as a volunteer Community Compost adviser with Garden Organic and my local Council. I offer talks and run workshops and events where we talk about compost, veg growing, chicken keeping, cooking, preserving and sustainable living. We also make crafts and have fun.

We try to live a more self sufficient lifestyle here, as best we can, while still having a comfortable life and lots of fun.To learn more about us click on the About Compostwoman tab and remember to click on the photos to make them full size!

Friday, 13 February 2009

Willow lays an egg!

This is Willow. She is a very sweet, rather shy, very small Silver Dorking pullet. This was Willow yesterday, she kept on fussing around, repeatedly going in and out of the Eglu, not settling down to eat or dust bathe...she seemed agitated, so I watched her carefully for a bit to see if she was OK. Willow is very scared of "the big hens" and never goes near Cluckingham Palace, where they all live, so imagine my surprise when I opened up the nest box and saw...this! I had noticed her comb was looking more red in the last few days and she had started to squat when I went near her, so I had a good idea what might be going on.... and later on I found ....this! A tiny egg! it weighed about 40 g, as compared to the Henny one next to it which was 85 g. Willow came strutting out of Cluckingham Palace, SO pleased with herself! She proclaimed to the WHOLE WORLD very loudly that she HAD LAID AN EGG!!!! Long John Silver was very agitated all the time she was sitting inside the nest box, he kept on running back and forth... and finally settled on standing next to it...he was VERY pleased when she finally emerged!

How cute!! and you just reminded me about chickens cackling when they lay eggs.. I need to tell my daughter about that because some of her chickens have been hiding their nest in the fields and she's not sure where or which ones.. maybe if she listens for them cackling she can spot where the nest is.

Well done Willow (the hen!!). I am waiting for Molly and Mrs Badger, our two new girls, to lay - and trying to work out who else is laying in the barn. I'd rather she'd not as it's a race to get there before the thieving dog eats the egg.